Pope County freshman Lexis Richerson allowed just two hits as the Lady Pirates took care of Harrisburg, 4-1, Thursday afternoon to hand the Lady Bulldogs their first loss on the season.

Junior Hanna Jones led off the game with a double and scored the lone run for Harrisburg thanks to a couple of wild pitches, but that first inning rally would be all Richerson would allow.

Pope County answered with a pair of runs with two outs in the bottom of the first frame and didn’t look back.

Richerson sat down 14 batters in a row between the second and sixth innings, and the only other hit on the day for Harrisburg was a Brittany Reynolds single to start the seventh.

“They’re a young ballclub, they are hungry, and they were aggressive,” Harrisburg coach Red Stafford said of Pope County. “All we kind of did was kick the ball around and give them extra bases. It’s like we weren’t ready to play, and against a good ballclub, you can’t do that.”

Stafford was a bit familiar with the head coach in the opposing dugout Thursday. First year Pope County head coach Jessi Hall is Stafford’s daughter and is a 1997 HHS graduate.

Catcher Brittany Noel had a pair of hits and drove in two runs for the Lady Pirates (4-0). Freshman Olivia Collier added two hits for Pope, while classmate Olivia Weaver drove in a run.

Pope County had runners aboard the bases in every inning and pushed across a couple of insurance runs in the fifth.

Harrisburg’s three-game winning streak to start the season was snapped with the loss. The Lady Bulldogs are scheduled to play at Eldorado Friday afternoon and then have a pair of games on tap for Saturday.

Weather permitting, they’ll start the weekend around 10:30 Saturday morning taking on Shawnee in Goreville. That matchup will be followed by a date with the hosts and 1A defending state champion Blackcats around noon.

Galatia-Thompsonville 13, Gallatin County 0

Elizabeth Sloan and Larissa Bond each homered as Galatia-Thompsonville improved to 2-3 on the season with a 13-0 win over Gallatin County Thursday.

In addition to the home runs, Sloan drove in five RBIs, while Bond drove in a pair of runs and pitched the Bearcats to win, giving up just one hit.

The Bearcats put up four runs in both the first and second innings, followed by five in the third.

Emily Reed finished 1-for-2 with an RBI, while Sloan went 3-for-3 and Bond finished 2-for-3.

Benton 11, Eldorado 1

Eldorado dropped its first game of the season, falling to Benton 11-1 Thusday.

Page 2 of 2 - The Eagles were paced at the plate by Caitlyn Stafford, who went 1-for-3, Kara Dale and Kelsea Newman each went 1-for-2, while Newman had the lone RBI, scoring Lexi Clore in the fifth inning.

Michaela Laswell picked up the loss, going 5 2/3 inning, allowing nine hits and four earned runs, while walking three and striking out six.